United is as Loyal as your last dollar spent

The following was sent to United Airlines by my business partner.

Subj: Congratulations
>
> Body:
>
> You win. You have successfully alienated one of your most loyal
> customers. Well, I don’t know, maybe 1.6 million miles over the last 19
> years and my willingness to pay hundreds of dollars more than your
> competition to fly on your airline doesn’t count that much since that’s
> the message I have received.
>
> I didn’t make 1K last year due to a slow-down in business. This year,
> I’m well on my way at 43K so far, but that pace won’t last. It won’t
> last because you have decided that it is better to try to pry 50 more
> dollars out of me to grant me the privilege of sitting in an (otherwise)
> empty seat on a flight that is leaving 2 hours earlier than my scheduled
> flight.
>
> About 8-9 years ago Northwest pulled the same stunt on me and I vowed to
> avoid their airline in all cases except when I have no other reasonable
> choice. And so, I’ve flown on them about 10 times since then. Often
> times flying to their hub cities via connections on United to avoid them
> – even when you charged me more.
>
> It just makes absolutely no sense to me to make customers wait for a
> later flight if you have open seats. I can’t speak for all customers but
> I can speak for myself. And when you do this to me, it makes me very
> angry. What if the later flight is delayed? Or cancelled? Why should I
> have to take that risk? Why would you want to take the risk of making me
> even angrier? Is that your idea of good customer relations? I think it
> stinks, and I think you have lost sight of the big picture.
>
> Since NW pulled this stunt, I have tried to figure out a rational reason
> for them screwing their customers. The only one I can come up with is
> that they (and now you) somehow believe that charging me to sit in an
> unoccupied seat keeps me from trying to book flights at cheap times and
> then standing by on a better time that you wanted to charge more for. My
> reaction to that is that your tiered pricing system is flawed and
> instead of doing your math better, you are trying to goad your customers
> into paying up and fixing your problem.
>
> Well, that ridiculously terrible service doesn’t work for me. And I have
> no intention of continuing as one of your most loyal customers. I can
> fly on any ol’ airline and be treated like you treat me as a Premier
> Exec 1.6 million mile flyer. What do I get from you that they don’t
> offer? Early boarding. Does it matter? Once in a while it does, and
> mostly it doesn’t. So, as a Premier-Exec-for-life customer, I can enjoy
> the same benefits on your airline as I get as casual traveler on any
> airline.
>
> In conclusion, you should know that my new policy to go along with your
> new policies is to buy the cheapest ticket with the best connections, no
> matter who the carrier is. There is no such thing as a loyalty program
> in my book. Your program, like all others, is a joke and I’m not
> laughing anymore. Southwest? Sounds good. USAir? Ok. Continental…oh
> that’s you. Sure, if you meet my policy. Frontier? You bet. Any airline?
> Absolutely. It’s all about me, my convenience, and the best value.
>
> I will be passing these thoughts on, unsolicited, as I causally travel
> my way on the low-cost carriers... I guess just skipping my next flight
> with you will pay for about 20 of those seats I could have bought
> tonight. Too bad I didn’t buy it because that means that you lost that
> stanby seat plus 20 more next week.
>
> Bye-bye!

Typical Hertz

I recently rented from Hertz.  I turned my car in a 5:30 am and there was no attendant either inside or out.

This is always a bad sign with Hertz as teasing a receipt out of this company is like getting a root canal.

I turned the car in on a Saturday, then on Monday, I went through the following:

1. I went to their website and found that it had been redone so none of my passwords worked.  I took a few minutes to go look these up.  This alone put me about 3 minutes past the 1 minute I had scheduled for this task.

2. The button for a receipt was hidden beneath a semi-transparent pop-up that is the default page mode.  I eventually found it and clicked.

3.  Several possible receipts showed up including the one I was looking for.  When I clicked on "details" which is what you need to file an expense report, nothing happened.  I tried several other, older receipts and found that none of them worked.  So, their new website is a bust.

4.  I called, and listened to three different menus before getting to a person that forwarded me to another array of menus.  These next menus led me in an endless loop so I hung up and started over.

5.  This time I asked for a Supervisor but was not allowed to talk to one.  Instead, I was again  sent on the menu loop.  This time, I clicked on one that put me on hold.  It did give me the option of having them call back.  All I had to do was press a 1 and then would call me back.  When I pressed the 1, they acted like they didn't hear it.  So, I couldn't tell them I wanted to be called back.

I am now on hold.  All of the above has been written while I am waiting...and I am still waiting.

This company is in the IT stone age.

Do you have a Hertz story?  Send it to me and I'll post it here.

Jim

Introduction

I’m 53 years old and a hardened road warrior.

Over the last 20-plus years, I’ve flown over 3,000,000 miles, spent over 1,000 nights in hotels and have rented untold numbers of cars.  I’ve been to every continent except Antarctica and visited about 40 different countries.

I give you this bit of background as my credentials for critiquing, or praising, the various institutes associated with my lot of life – That being a life on the road.

This “diary” is my outlet. 

I need a soapbox to stand on occasionally.  Somewhere on a quiet corner, in the middle of the world, un-noticed and un-seen, I will scream out at the top of my voice, “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!”

There, I feel better already.

My main focus will be on TSA and airport security in general; airlines, hotels and rental companies.

First of all, I have my preferred providers.  I consider them my family.  As such, I recognize that they are less than perfect but still, they make me feel at home.

Let’s start with my preferred airline.  I fly United most of the time.  I have 1,900,000 miles on them.  I am usually a 1K member which means that I flew over 100,000 miles the previous year.  Being a 1K has several privileges, although they seem to be diminishing over time.  I get early boarding, preferred seating, free upgrades, double miles and I can use the Red Carpet room for free when holding an international ticket.  Most importantly, they have a hub in San Francisco so I can get a flight to just about anywhere I want to go from there.

My favorite hotel is the Hampton Inn.  I used to be a Holiday Inn person but Hampton Inns clearly try harder.  I am a Diamond VIP level person which means…not a whole lot that I can tell.  However, the beds are super comfortable and they have free internet and a free breakfast.  The people that work there are always nice.

For rental cars I choose Hertz.  I am a Gold Number One level member which means nothing other than I don’t have to stand in line to get my car.  Of all the travel service providers, this is the one I am least loyal to.  If any of the others would just improve a little, then Hertz would be gone.

I think TSA is a joke that should be completely thrown out.  More on that later.

Anyway, this is who I am.  I will post my experiences and recommendations as time goes by.  Every now and then, I’ll try to post a hint about something every traveler should be aware of.